Trupe Fandanga (Portugal)

QUBIM

21 May at 11.30am (Sat) | 22 May at 4pm (Sun)

_{⇨ FREE ADMISSION}

_{Technique: Full-view manipulation, objects Language: Portuguese Age guidance: +6 Runs: 40 min.}

_{⇨ Puppet Workshops by Trupe Fandanga at LU.CA: 28 and 29 May (Sat, Sun). +Info}

Qubim is a puppet show and boxes with puppets inside. The stage is the van full of boxes. The boxes are filled with the memories of two gleaners, who arrange and disarrange them. They open doors, swing hinges, create passages, reveal figures. Some objects turn into puppets and puppets awaken when a box is lifted.

A thing is a thing and another thing is another thing. Things are what they are, ‘til they’re not.
A box... doesn’t exist by itself. Empty boxes are only half a thing,

Our gaze also changes the essence of things.
An empty van... it still is a van even when it’s full of boxes. And you can change the order of things and fill it to the top...

Qubim is about searching and rebuilding from fragments. In it, lives and contradictions blend together, embodied by peculiar and distinctive puppets.

Qubim is a show of hybrid objects and puppets, in which the puppeteers are in sight, and thus blend with the set and the figures. The narrative follows a simple storyline, allowing the micro-stories of the figures in the boxes, and creating a surreal atmosphere where different techniques and scales of construction and manipulation are explored.

BIO

Directed by Sandra Neves, Trupe Fandanga was founded in Porto in 2014, when the company made its first presentation in a WIP at Festival Internacional de Marionetas do Porto with the show Botequim.
The company aims to be a space for research in puppet and object construction and manipulation. Their work focuses on presenting puppets outside conventional settings, with a special interest in intimate, small-scale shows. After Botequim, the Trupe presented the micro-puppet show Onirotóptero in 2019 and in 2021, their new show Qubim.

_CREDITS

_{Artistic direction: Sandra Neves Concept and manipulation: Catarina Falcão e Sandra Neves Text and outside eye: Ricardo Alves Original music: Carlos Adolfo Lighting design: Mariana Figueroa Sound design: Pedro Ribeiro Voice off: Paulo Calatré Costume making: Ana Ferreira Construction assistance: Pascal Bertrand Babysitter: Joana Matos Photography: Thiago Liberdade Production: Ana Carvalhosa (direction), Cláudia Santos e Susana Lage Coproduction: Artemrede, CRL - Central Elétrica, Palmilha Dentada Special acknowledgment: Diana Oliveira, Carmelinda Dias, Teresa Campos and Marta Figueiroa, Márcia}